Improvement in middlings-purifiers



2 Sheets--Sheet1.

4A. R. BUILDER.

Middlings-Puriiers.

' Patented Dec. 2,1873.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. R. GUILD ER. MiddIings-Puriers.

Patented Dec.2,1873f.

Inl/enfer.

PA I gewi.,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABSALOM R. GUILDER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MIDDLINGS-PURIFIERS.

vSpecification forming part of Letters Patent No. 145.170, dated December 2,1873yapplication filed May 31, 1ste.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, AEsALoM R. G-UiLDER, of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Middlings-Separators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part of this specification, and to the letters and gures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of my improved middlings-separator by a vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation ofthe saine. f

This invention has relation to means for purifying or dressing middlings; and it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of the beating devices for cleaning the boltingcloths;` of the deposit-chambers, with hinged valved doors and vertical partition; of an oscillating screen, draft-separator, and vertical partition; of the stationary pressure-fan, stationary air-chest, oscillating perforated pipes, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawhigs, the letter A designates the sills of the casing, and B the uprights or posts thereof. The walls of the casing are covered in closely on the top, ends, and, sides by suitable boarding a, made removable at such parts as may be required for inspection or handling the interior devices. C C designate the bolting-screens, operated by eccentrics on the shafts I) b in the parallel frames c, which are fastened to the ends of the oscillating screen-frames D. The frames D are suspeuded on chains or rods dfrom two beams, Eyon either side of the walling or covering a., to which they are attached by clasps e. The upper frame, D, is set in a vertically-vibrating motion by the blows of a mallet, F, on a springar1n,f, fastened to a cross-bar, G, iu the main frame, and operated by a revolving arm, h., on a shaft, H. I is an inclined partition between the upper and lower screens, and serves to transfer the middlings from the rea-r end of .the upper screen to the front end of the lower screen, and to prevent an interference among theair-courses of the higher and lower screens. At the front of the higher screen C there is a hopper, J, and a feedfroller, K, of ordinary construction, with an adjustable stop-board, 7c,

which serves to ward oi any air-currents thatA may enter when the door k1 is open. The hopi per is filled through a hole, j, in the top of the machine. The middlings on the screens are agitated by a draft of rarelied air above, which" is created by a fan, L, and conducted thereto by air-ducts l, the same being so situated as to operate only above the screens by sucking the air through the meshes of the screens, and carrying along all the lighter parts of the middlings. The off-draft over the top screen is the strongest, because there is more substance to be lifted and agitated; but the force being more than suicient to raise the iiour, carries, also, some of the coarser parts with it, which `are collected in chambers M M' by conducting.

the charged air-currents over the said chambers, and there reducing their speed and suspending or floating power with the aid of a greatly-enlarged sectional area, so that when they arrive at the fan L they are only chargedl with flour.V To facilitate the passage of air through the upper screen and the middlings that cover it, the middlings are prevented from getting too solid, and from holding the flour too stubbornly, by a succession of raps from the mallet F on a bar, z, suspended by end rods m to the under side of the frame c in a central locality, by which the passing mass of middlings is very eftectually loosened and exposed to the airfcurrent. The regulation of the draft created by thc exhaust-fan L is effected by vertically-swinging valve-doors l 11,' hinged to the walling a. The regulation of the collecting-chambers M M is done by partly or wholly covering them with boards m, or by opening or shutting the vent-holes n with thev pendent covers N. 'The chambers M are not inactive when all the covers m are applied, as represented in the drawings, because they are some distance below the boards m, which divide the opening to the upper air-duct, l, in two parts, and thereby force the air-current, which, in this case, is always a very moderate one, over the openings of the said chambers. The chambers M M have inclined bottoms, and at the termination of the saine they are provided with vertically-hinged valve-doors m', which will give away to the side pressure of the accumulating material inside the chambers, and. discharge the same from time to time down on the screen in such quantities that the prevailing air-currentis not powerful enough to break their bulks and carry them off again. The collection-chambers are set apart, to divide the air-current between them and break its force. The front chambers, M, are separated from the rear ones by a partition, O, which excludes the draft from the front part of the screen when the chambers Ml are covered. The room above the covering-boa-rds m is closed by the top al. From the lower screen G there is less separating to do, and the draft ot' rareiied air is less forcible for that reason, being more distant from the fan L; but the operation of agitating and loosening the middlings requires more power, because the constituting parts are now coarscr and heavier; so, therefore, a blast is provided below the screen by conducting compressed air through perforated pipes P from a fan against the lower side of the screen-cloth. The pipes P are setinto an oscillating motion by means ofthe levers p, therocker-bar ps1, the connecting-rodp2, and the crank-plate Q with the adjustable pin q. rEhe pipes P are closed at one end, and enter with their open ends into an air-chest, R, which communicates with a pressure-fan, S, which receive air in the usual way, and is provided with sliding valves r for the purpose of regulating the blast on the screen. The pipes l?, by oscillating, change the direction of the blasts through the perforations p3 at their top parts to different angles and to different parts of the screen, thereby creating such a variety of agitations among the parts of the middlings that every remainder of flour, however small, is exposed to and carried oif by the scouring draft. The room between the inclined partition I and the lower screen C is divided by the vertical partition T, and an inclined partition, U, separates the draft ofthe front part of the lower screen C from the rear part of the same. To prevent the middlings from dropping between the end of the screen and the wall of the machine, I fasten a deiiector-board to the same wall, which brings the middlings further back on the screen. The middlings drop, finally, on two inclined boards, V, of a reservoir, in which an elevator-screw, W, is employed to collect and move it to a suitable place. l For the purpose of observation and ventilation, there are two vertically hung doors, X; and for the purpose of discharging and cleaning, there .are a number of slidevalves, Y and Z, at the bottom of the reservoir V'.

The blows of the mallet F may be made more or less forcible by attaching a lever-arm, G', to the bar G, which has a slot, g, and is set at such an inclination, by means of the said slot and a set-screw, g', that the elastic arm f is more or less removed lfrom the screen C, and consequently a less or more forcible blow is dealt by the mallet F.

The movement necessary for the different parts of the machine is received from one driving-pulley, A', from which a belt, (1.1,. transfers motion to a pulley, L', on the fan L; and auother belt, a2, drives a pulley, K', with a pinion, k2, by which a gear-wheel, K2, on the end of the feed-roller K is revolved. The upper eccentric-shaft, b, carries the driving-pulley,

and the lower eccentric-shaft, b, is driven from the former by means of two pulleys, b1 b1, and a belt, b2. rlhe lower eccentric-shaft, b, communicates motion to the crank plate Q by means of a driving-pulley, a belt, and a crankshaft, 1.', another pulley, g3, o'n the said crankshaft with the belt s, drives the pulley S' on the fan S. rlhe lower eccentric-shaft, b, carries a third pulley, b4, which drives a pulley, V', with a belt, c, and by the latter pulley two bevel-gears, u' and w, are engaged to revolve the conveyer or Archimedean screw W. The middlings are put into the hopper J. They are from there carried down by the feed-roller K on the oscillating screen C, the rarefied air above drawing all the light particlesfrom the surface, and, in passing over. the chambers M M', depositing there the more substantial parts of them.

In getting near the center of the screen the blows of the mallet F are more effective, and the middlings are very forcibly agit-ated, so that they lose the greater part of the loury admixture when theypass through the second. apartment at the rear of the partition o.v v

The middlings descend now down on the inclined plane I, and, prompted. partly by their own gravity, and partly by the downward direction of the there prevailing aircurrent, which may be enforced by the lifting of the doors l1 and the screen l2 at the lower end of the screen C, they slide down on the screen C below. lVhile on the upper screen the middlings were only affected on the upper side by the separating-draft, they are now exposed to the steady draft above, and a continuallychanging blast from below, which scours the constituent parts of the middlings on all sides and drops them perfectly free from ilour into the reservoir below. The screen or cloth vents l2 Z3 serve as safety-valves when. the pressure of air should become too great I am aware that a pressure-fan, an air-chest, and perforated air-pipes, used in middlingspuriiiers, are not new, and therefore I do not claim such inventions broadly.

llVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a middlings-separator, the mallet F, on t-he elastic arm f, secured to the cross-bar G, and the shaft H, with arm 7L, constructed' and arranged directly under the inclined oscillating screen C, and operating in the manner as shown and described.

2. In a middlings-separator, the depositchambers M M', withl the covers m, hinged valved doors m', and the vertical partition o, substantially as specified. Y 3. In a middlin,gs-separator, the oscillating screen C, in combination with the oscillating blast-pipes P, substantially as specified.

4. In a middlingsseparator, thecombinatiol-l of the screen C, the inclined plate I, the vertical partition T, and the draft-separator fu, substantially as specitied.

5. The combination of the hopper J, the chambers M M', the covers m, the fan L, the oscillating screen C, and mallet F, the inclined partition I, the screen C, and the oscillatimg` perforated pipes P, the fan S, the partitions c Il V, and the adjustable vents N N Z1 Z2 Z3, substantially as specied.

6. In a middlings-separator, the oscillating pipes P, with perforations p3, and regulating slide-Valves 1, arranged transversely underneath a reciprocating screen.

7. In a middlings-purier, the stationary pressure-fan S, stationary air-chest It, and the ABSALOM GUILDER.

Vitnesses GEORGE R. ROBINSON, A. Y. DAVIDSON. 

